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Each week’s post will feature one or more Trash Bubble variations created by individual artists. Whenever possible, we will include a few words from the artist about their creation and their art practice.

The hope is to provide readers with an opportunity to more deeply connect and engage with the artist’s vision on the theme in an effort to inspire others to create beauty and meaning from the everyday discards of the detritus of life.

If you have a Trash Bubble creation you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Trash Bubble Tuesday post please mail it in! Details of the original mail art call can be found here: https://trashbubblesandlifeslittlebits.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/monday-morning-mail-art-call-trash-bubbles-a-poetic-exploration-of-trash/

Since the first of the year, there has been an increase in the Trash Bubbles received at the Studio. A few of them will be sprinkled throughout this post. You can find the others here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/516868958656429/?ref=br_rs While you’re there, join us, won’t you?

From Michael Orr

New Bubbles continue to come out of the studio, as well.

The deadline for the call for Trash Bubbles as originally set forth here: https://trashbubblesandlifeslittlebits.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/monday-morning-mail-art-call-trash-bubbles-a-poetic-exploration-of-trash/ has been extended indefinitely. If you have a Bubble brewing, please send it on. We need all the pieces we can assemble for the mural of your creations that is part of the proposed exhibit.

In addition, I have been researching and applying to receive grants to further the project, Trash Bubbles: A Poetic Exploration of Trash, as it morphed from a one and done exhibit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a traveling exhibit. The broader scope allows for greater participation and therefore greater impact.

From Alicia Starr

Creative Capital was the first chance I took, hoping that the idea would be edgy enough and interesting enough to garner support on a grand scale, knowing that the project would benefit from artist services as well as the funding. We’ll find out in June if the project will advance. Keep your fingers crossed!

Just this last week, I applied for a Black Earth Institute fellowship. I feel strongly that the fellowship, which lasts three years, will allow me to work alongside other like-minded artists to affect change on several levels while providing peer support and critique for the project.

From Catherine M. Bennett

Eager to get to the nitty-gritty of putting all of our samples to work for the cause, I am entertaining any funding that suits the project. Should you have any ideas along those lines, please feel free to contact me with the pertinent information. You can do this in the comment section, or via the link at the beginning of this post.

Long time, no write. I know. But you know what? For once, I feel no guilt.

Time well spent, in my estimation. I have been practicing self-care, giving myself the much needed time to mull things over, plan out my course and readjust to where I am in my life and my art.

Today, I am here to share with you a little bit of what’s been going on and where I intend to take things in 2018. Hopefully, you’ll join me on my journey. At the very least, I hope you might take away a little inspiration for your own journey.

Last year was another big one for me, in that I have continued to step outside my comfort zone, stretching myself and my art. I took more chances. I experimented more with marketing and sales of my art. That meant doing three art/craft shows (up from one the previous year) and applying for a local Awesome Foundation grant. http://www.awesomefoundation.org

It’s true that the shows didn’t yield as much income as I would have liked. BUT! I learned from each one. In addition, I spent time attending shows (market research) trying to find ones that were a good fit for my art and found a few to experiment with this year. It was all part of the learning curve for me.

That grant I applied for? It was for my Trash Bubbles! And guess what?!?

Sadly, I have only received a few. By few, I mean less than a dozen. Trying to put together an exhibit to include the Trash Bubbles of other artists alongside those I’ve made falls a bit short when participation is low. I know they cost about $3 each to mail and that might be an issue for some of you. Understandable. Others of you may have had good intentions, but forgot, got sidetracked by life, etc. That’s cool, too.

You still have time to participate! After all, I am still seeking a venue for the exhibit. It may be that it happens on a smaller scale this year. That’s okay. Just know that I am still looking for your own interpretation of Trash Bubbles. I will be taking submissions thru March 1, 2018.

Even if you are merely curious, please check out the link above for the details. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be inspired.

Trash Bubbles: A Poetic Exploration of Trash is an exhibit designed to bring about an awareness of trash as art.

Intended to coincide with Earth Day 2018, it is to be an exhibit of my own Trash Bubble creations alongside those created by other artists and mail artists around the globe. In addition, there will be public workshops culminating in a mass mailing of commemorative Trash Bubbles.

The purpose is to bring about an awareness of trash as art, as poetry. These pieces shock and awe on a fun and engaging level. I hope to spark conversation and encourage participation. A venue is currently being sought in the Pittsburgh area, details to follow.

In the meantime, I’d like all of you who said, “I might like to try my hand at creating one of those Trash Bubble thingies!” to get the ball rolling.

Here’s what I need from you:

Make a Trash Bubble using ANY SIZE of clear plastic consumer packaging. Note: I have found that pieces smaller than 4x6x2 usually require an envelope, so they don’t get lost. A piece measuring about 4x6x2 can easily be mailed without an envelope and currently costs less than $3 to post within the continental US.

Fill it with trashy bits. Let the bits speak to the viewer, telling whatever story you wish. Think Trash Poetry. If necessary, add words to guide the observer.

Seal it with tapes, stitching, staples or other fasteners, making certain that your piece will survive the post.

Decorate the edges if you wish, but leave room on the back to address it to:

Trash Bubbles: A Poetic Exploration of Trash

The Studio at Piney Creek Acres

107 Marigold Lane

New Brighton, PA 15066 USA

Be sure to include your name, email and mailing address

Send your Trash Bubble along for inclusion by March 1, 2018

NO JURY, NO FEE, NO RETURNS

Join the Facebook group: Trash Bubbles: a Poetic Exploration of Trash to see the contributions of artists as they arrive and to receive updates concerning the exhibit.

This is going to be a grand adventure! I am eager to see your interpretation of the theme.

The Colgate toothbrush package used for today’s Trash Bubble had been floating around the studio for some time. I hung onto it because its chambers appealed to me, as did the color. I mean, who doesn’t love a little metallic red?

I was going to remove it from its place of honor and put it in the Trash Bubble drawer… (Yes, there’s a drawer!) but then I read the small print, “Full Head – Cheek and Tongue.” Immediacy struck. I gathered a few things and got to work, never mind that there were more pressing things on my plate.

You know me and my literal translations… there just had to be a real head in there! If I’d have had a doll head that fit… but alas, we ended up with a gentlemanly skull, complete with startlingly blue eyes. He’s sporting a Monopoly top hat for the occasion. A Full Head, indeed!

As I carefully threaded the bits on the metal rod, it occurred to me that most people whose brains are full and active are known to lead BIG LIVES, lives of purpose and contribution, lives that are full and rewarding… this guy is no exception. It took me a while to locate the “BIG” bead I’d found on the ground outside a local craft store, but I persisted because I had one of my famous preconceived ideas that are difficult to shake. I backed out the rod, added the bead and a “life” sticker to the old, red, star eraser that served as his chest and began to reassemble the whole.

Full Head. BIG life. Cheek & Tongue.

I very nearly changed the “&” in “Cheek & Tongue” to read “Cheek IN Tongue.” I’m glad I left it alone. It seems funnier somehow… and I’m fairly certain folks will still get it.

There you have it! My process for this particular piece is fairly close to that of other Bubbles I create. Granted, there’s a little more planning, a little less spontaneity in some of the others, but generally speaking, this is how I work.

If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy next week’s Monday Mail Art Call. I will be issuing a call for Trash Bubbles created by YOU, my readers. The call is in preparation for an upcoming exhibit; Trash Bubbles: A Poetic Exploration of Trash. Be sure to check back for the details.

This week’s call is one that really appeals to me. I can’t help but think of the song, “Sucker for Pain” by Suicide Squad.

We all experience pain, at one time or another, in our lives. Some of us experience it more frequently than others and there are many different levels of severity to consider. This call asks us to draw on pain we have experienced, either physical, or emotional to convey a visual depiction of it. It asks us to share something intensely personal with the world in hopes of making a lasting impression on the medical students who will view the exhibit. If you would like to be an instrument of change in this area, read on for details.

The Hoyt Gallery at the USC Keck School of Medicine presents “PAIN2”, a mail in art/postcard show featuring images depicting physical and mental pain. PAIN2 will run from September 1 – Oct 27, 2017

Our hope is that PAIN2 will give medical students a visual representation of what their future patients will be going though. We want them to see their patients as people, not just symptoms. We need you to draw your personal pains.

Deadline for submissions is August 30th, 2017.

PAIN2 is open to all visual artists worldwide.

Artists retain rights to submitted works, but grant Hoyt Gallery the rights to digital reproduction of their submission(s) to include on the Hoyt Gallery webpage, and PAINARTSHOW Facebook page. www.facebook.com/PainArtShow/

Artists may send their pieces by postal mail to this address:

Pain

C/O Curriculum Office

Keck School of Medicine at USC

1975 Zonal Avenue, KAM 200

Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA

All work should include Artist name, email address, and info on type of pain depicted.

My apologies for the quick turnaround on this one, I only just learned of it.